


What If: Templars?

by Pyroraptor



Series: Dragon Age: Self Insertquisiton [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Modern Girl in Thedas, Side Quests, Side Story, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:28:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26079520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyroraptor/pseuds/Pyroraptor
Summary: How does Catherine handle a demon when she's still unsure of herself and without her shapeshifting abilities?  How would meeting Cole when there wasn't a dragon to worry about go?  How would a demon mess with her head?An alternate side story to my main Inquisition fic
Series: Dragon Age: Self Insertquisiton [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893352
Kudos: 2





	What If: Templars?

**Author's Note:**

> What? I haven't updated in awhile? Me?
> 
> Something I've had in my head for a while. Finally got back on the bandwagon. Writer's block, kind of put Dragon Age on pause, yada yada.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Catherine had chosen the Templars instead?

“The Templars must help us fight the Breach. The Order was founded to fight magic!” Cullen stares ahead- at a place above my head- and crosses his arms with a serious glare. Leliana, Cassandra, or Josie make no remark on his attitude today.

“We must first convince the Lord Seeker to bring the Templars out of exile. Word from a Templar-Recruit says they’ve gathered at Therinfal Redoubt.” The Seeker beside me steps forward to speak, her hand on the hilt of her sword. She has a confused and cross expression.

“It has been abandoned for decades. Why go there?” Josephine pipes up from behind her clipboard, writing away as she speaks.

“We will have to ask the Lord Seeker that. We must approach him again if we are to get anywhere. Leliana gives a small chuckle from her side of the room.

“Of course, to even approach then we must seem a more attractive prospect. If it’s status the Lord Seeker is seeking-”

“Then we will approach him after allying ourselves with the noblest houses in Orlais.” Josie finishes the statement with a flair from her quill.

“They’ll come with us to Therinfal and demand the Templars close the Breach.” _But if neither the Mages or Templars want to talk with us, why would a bunch of foppish nobles agree to such a thing?_ I see a brief change in Cullen’s expression.

“You think such a thing will work?” _Are me and Cullen… actually on the same wavelength here?_

“Even the Lord Seeker would find it difficult to ignore so many nobles on his doorstep.” 

“Yes.” Leliana nods with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Especially when led by the Herald herself.” I hear a few stifled laughs from Leliana and Josie as I look around startled.

“M-Me? Lead people? Are you sure about that?”

“Rumors you were saved from the Fade by Andrastre have grown amongst the Legion.” 

“We have done our part to encourage them,” Josie adds at the end of Leliana’s explanation.

“When you first approached, you and your companions have brushed aside. The same woman with noble support will be reconsidered, as will the power of the Inquisition. If the Seeker is truly an Envy demon, such a crowd may give it enough pause for us to dispatch it before it can reach you.”

I briefly glance among them and then down at the floor.

“You say that but what if it decides to come after me directly? What if it doesn’t care about our little sideshow?” Cassandra places a hand on my shoulder.

“If it does move to attack, no doubt the Templars will question its orders. You shall be protected, Catherine. It will not come to pass.”

* * *

“The Herald of Andraste!” A voice calls out over the crowd of nobles and the sound of rain on the stone. I feel like I’m wading through a sea of silken skirts and doublets. There’s a loud chorus of whispers as I walk down the road, with Varric, Cass, and Solas trailing behind me. A man steps out in front of me, causing me to halt mid-step. He wears a white velvet jacket with a yellow vest trimmed with bronze. His hat and mask are brown, the mask appears to be made of copper. “Lord Esmeral Abernache. Honored to participate. It is not unlike the second dispersal of the reclaimed Dales.” I give a small smile while nodding my head and turning around. I gesture to the man before me.

“What is he talking about?” I whisper to my group. Varric starts to walk me along with the nobles around us.

“That’d take a while to explain. For now, just smile and wave, Dots.” I nod back to the dwarf before trying to look like I’m paying attention to the lord before me.

“The Lord Seeker is willing to hear our petition about closing the Breach. A credit to our alliance with the Inquisition. Care to mark the moment? Ten Orleasean houses walk with you.” Abernache snaps his fingers abruptly. I see an elf approach with a silver tray with two goblets on it. The glasses are filled with a red liquid and bedazzled with gems on the side. Abernahce practically shoves it into my hand. He holds his own between his fingers, raising it slightly to me. “May the Templars see reason.” He takes a long drink of what I’m guessing is wine.

“...Uh-huh.” I pause, feeling quite uncomfortable. I quickly place the goblet back on the tray. “I think we shouldn’t keep the Seeker waiting, Mr. Abernache.” I flash a quick smile and walk past him, ignoring some of the shocked gasps in the crowd. _What are they gasping at? My not using the man’s title? Refusing to play along? Not drinking the wine?_ I hear Lord Abernache snort behind me.

“You ought to present yourself well, Herald. Everyone’s a little too tense for my liking.”

* * *

_‘Prepare her! Guide her to me!’_

“I think I heard him- The Lord Seeker!” I call out to my group amidst the fighting. There’s a constant roar around us of men dying, metal clashing, sounds of magic, and screams. I can feel my stomach lurching at the thought but I’m driven to follow the other’s as we run through the barracks and through an empty courtyard.

“I can only hear fighting…” Cassandra fills in as we open a door to an empty room.

‘ _I would know you!’_

“There he is again. Am I the only one who can…” My saliva is thick at the thought of that ugly, ugly thing inside my mind- my body. A hand clasps my shoulder and I turn to the elf beside me.

“What is it saying?”

‘ _You will be so much more!’_ I glance at Solas in fear, almost rooted to the spot as the demon keeps speaking.

“‘Prepare her- guide her, I would know you, you will be so much more’. Is it bad? That I can hear him in my head? Am I-”

‘ _Show me what you are!’_ My breath hitches as I glance around the room for the source of the voice, but find nothing.

“You must focus on ignoring it. Do not give it any leverage against you. If it gets inside your mind it will be that much harder to defeat it. I have faith in you.”

“We must put an end to this before it becomes too much. There!” Cassandra points up at a large door to the castle, up a couple flights of stairs. “I see him! Move!” The Seeker runs at a breakneck pace, her armor rattling as she does, Solas right behind her. Varric readjusts Bianca and adds a couple of bolts to his hand.

“It’d be easier if we could see this asshole so I could shoot him. Damn demons have to make things difficult. Damn stairs...”

‘ _Herald of Andraste! It is time we become better acquainted!’_

I shake my head and replant my feet. _Don’t give it an inch! You know what it wants- don’t submit. Show no fear… I can do this. I can do this._

_Can I though?_

_‘What do you think to accomplish? What will you become?’_

“After you shoot, I’m gonna punch him in the face. And also curse the stairs.” Varric nods as we run after the other two.

“Sounds like a plan, Dots!”

Both Solas and Cassandra have stopped at the top of a tall flight of steps, their weapons at the ready. By the time Varric and I arrive, the two are guarded as their eyes flit about. Varric holds his crossbow out and pointed. 

“So where’d the Lord Seeker go?” The dwarf asks, raising his voice to be heard “Wasn’t he just here?” We all stand on edge as the massive doors begin to slowly creek open.

The rain pours around us at the metal boot splashes on the stone. The man we encounter at Val Royeaux steps out before us. He still wears the same breastplate- silver and emboldened with the Templar insignia. I see chipped bites and gashes at the corners if I look hard enough. The long robe that trails at his feet is ragged, torn, and caked with mud. His hair appears to be combed back, but the flash of lightning reveals the mess the hair is tied into. From a distance, he’d be everything the Templars looked for in their leader- put together, strong, unyielding. But up close the disheveled madness is apparent. He smells sickening sweet and slightly metallic. _Blood, no doubt._

“The demon is weak,” Cassandra says matter of factly as she points her blade in the direction of it’s throat.

“ Be cautious!” Solas holds a hand up to stop her from lunging. “It has kept up the Seeker’s appearance for too long. It is desperate- and therefore unpredictable. We must protect the Herald!”

The Seeker’s mouth opens to show rotting teeth a little too sharp for a human’s. The voice is a grating rasp, like nails on a chalkboard as it gives a bone-chilling laugh.

It almost cackles in joy as some kind of red aura spills from his body. A flick of his hand and a wave knocks us all down. I hear a ringing in my ears loud and high pitched. I can almost make out Varric yelling something about ‘the red’. _The demon’s using red lyrium too? Or is it empowered by it? Is it using the lyrium to power itself since Solas said it’s weakened?_ But I have no time to fully explore these thoughts as cold metals clamps around my throat and drags me off my feet.

“At last!” The demon Seeker grates as I kick my feet in the air. I mindlessly grab his arms to try and pry him away, but it doesn’t do anything. The edges of my vision are surrounded by a swirling green haze with a horrifying face in the middle. I feel my thoughts unable to go anywhere as my mind grows fogged. I can barely hear the yelling of my companions as I’m dragged into some kind of portal. _Or am I falling unconscious? Being choked to death? I don’t know what’s happening._

All I see is black.


End file.
